Weintorstrasse district
The Weintorstrasse in Mainz between Rheinstrasse and Hopfengarten with its maze of small side streets such as Kappelhofgasse, Schlossergasse, Gallusgasse, Himmelgasse, Wolfsgässchen, Augustinergässchen and Mauritzenplatz with the Erbacher-Hof-Gasse is today one of the quietest and most idyllic areas of the old town of Mainz .
Wine gate and trills
At the confluence of the Weintorstrasse with the Rheinstrasse on the city side, the Weintor was located in the course of the city wall, named after the local wine merchants who shipped their goods on this section of the Rhine. Today's Weintor , located on Uferstrasse in the extension of Weintorstrasse to the Rhine , was only inserted into the wall that was built there in 1837 in the course of land reclamation by filling in the Lauterenviertel (red sandstone with pedestrian passages and loopholes). Remains of the older city wall are still visible and accessible in Schlossergasse today (children's playground). The city of Mainz is planning a small park on the side of the city wall, which is currently still cordoned off. The immediately following crossing of Weintorstraße with Schlossergasse / Gallusgasse (and until 1945 with the submerged Stallgasse) was called Triller until April 2, 1876 , there was a rotating cage for bakers who had baked bread that was too light.
Mauritzenplatz, Erbacherhofgasse and Himmelgasse
The Mauritzenplatz is formed by the back of the House of the Roman King , the back of the residential buildings adjoining Gallusgasse, the Maria Mater Dolorosa chapel (former Capuchin Church ) and the side of the Erbacher Hof , the education center of the diocese of Mainz. A playground with a fountain that can be used by children and a small relaxation area for adults complete the idyll. Since the construction of the education center, which is covered with a prominent lead roof, Erbacherhofgasse has only been a daytime passage to Grebenstrasse. Another passage leads under the Roman King to Heugasse and the former Heumarkt . The Himmelgasse, which began between the Erbacher Hof and the Maria Mater Dolorosa chapel, used to lead to Augustinerstraße ; due to private use by the Mainz seminary, only a few meters are publicly available at both ends of Himmelgasse.
Penitentiary
The Haus zum Raft building complex, located on a large area between Weintorstrasse, Schlossergasse and Kappelhofgasse and first mentioned in documents in 1226, became a “custody and educational institution for girls and women with a decent lifestyle” under Archbishop-Elector Johann Philipp von Schönborn . Later, towards the end of the 17th century, it became a so-called penitentiary , which is why the Weintorstraße in this section was then called Zuchthausstraße . "Healthy, work-shy beggars and vagabonds of both sexes" were "encouraged to work hard". In 1742 this reformatory was converted into a normal penitentiary and closed around 1900 with the construction of the Mainz penal institution on Dieter-von-Isenburg-Straße.
The original name of Weintorstrasse was Zuchthausgasse until it was renamed on October 10, 1888 at the instigation of the local residents.
Above the entrance to the gate, a marble relief from 1742 (created by Burkhard Zamels ) shows a vehicle pulled by wild boars, lions and deer on which the vagabonds are brought to the penitentiary. The inscription says:
THE IMPERFECTION HAS STILL MADE MANY.
CONCERN YOURSELF BEFORE YOU CAN DO SOMETHING BETTER,
THE CRIMINAL OF THIS WORK, OTHERWISE YOU WILL LAUGH. "
The words added later by the (same?) Artist to the picture do not refer to the prison, but to the criticism that has arisen of his work: “Do not make a hasty judgment about my work, there is much more that is imperfect. But if you can do better, you can blame me. Otherwise one will laugh at yourself. ”On the other hand, the opinion is expressed that plaque and relief do not belong together and that the saying refers to another building that was newly constructed at the time. The former penitentiary is currently called Haus Maria Frieden with the St. Anselm Chapel located in it and is part of the Bruder-Konrad-Stift, an old people's and nursing home run by the Sisters of Mary founded in 1926.
Kappelhofgasse
The Kappelhofgasse was the brothel district of Mainz until the Second World War , the name of the street is derived from the chapel of the former St. Barbara Hospital. At Carl Zuckmayer , too, parts of his Carnival confession take place in the brothels on Kappelhofgasse. Today this is a quiet street together with the small Wolfsgässchen, in which, among other things, the Mainz baby window , the Leininger Hof and the Hof zum Homberg (around 1350) are located. The latter was acquired by Provost Johann von Heppenheim in 1665, transferred to Archbishop-Elector Johann Philipp von Schönborn and converted into an orphanage that was used until 1922. In 1985 the complex was included in the new building of the Mainz Kolping House.
Augustinergässchen and Haus zum Stein
After the crossing of Weintorstrasse with Kappelhofgasse and Augustinergässchen, this leads along the Haus zum Stein , the oldest preserved stone residential building (Romanesque residential tower) to the lively southern end of Augustinerstrasse with the Hopfengarten and Graben squares . Augustinergässchen, leading to Augustinerstraße, forks just before it. The southern part of the fork, called Augustinerreul , is still the narrowest street in Mainz to this day. Numerous anecdotes are reported about this alley, for example this alley is built so narrow that drunken revelers can hold each other upright with both hands on the way home.
Map from 1894
Plan of Weintorstrasse from 1894 (north is on the right)
Holzstrasse around 1860, on the left the confluence of Kappelhof and Stallgasse
Am Triller: Stallgasse around 1900 (current western side of Gallusgasse) from Weintorstraße to Heugasse
On the map of the city of Mainz from 1894 by J. Diemer, the differences between the streets at that time and those of today can be clearly seen:
- Today's Gallusgasse was then the northern Stallgasse and the northern Schlossergasse.
- The buildings between the southern Stallgasse and Schlossergasse were also not rebuilt after 1945, the name Stallgasse disappeared.
- From the Kappelhofgasse you got on the left side of the Hof zum Homberg through the no longer existing Kappelhof to Holzstraße.
- The Erbacherhofgasse not yet resulted in the Mauritz place.
particularities
Before the Lauterenviertel was filled up, the parts of the city of Mainz near the bank were exposed to the floods of the Rhine almost unprotected. The level of that time can still be seen today in some streets of the old town (e.g. Haenleinsgässchen, Weintorstraße, Heugasse), at the foot of the wooden tower and in parts of Wallaustraße in Mainz Neustadt. With the construction of the Rheinstrasse as a flood dam from around 1886, however, the risk of flooding was averted. The protective walls on the banks of the Rhine between Winterhafen and Zollhafen as well as Rheinstrasse / Peter-Altmeyer-Allee / Rheinallee are only flooded when the Mainz level reaches approx.
Individual evidence
- ↑ From the carnival song "Meenz remains Meenz": "... there is Vilzbach , Triller, Markt and Gaadefeld ..."
- ^ Karl Schramm : Mainz Dictionary, Mainz 1993
- ↑ Erbacher Hof, Diocese of Mainz
- ↑ Manfred von Roesgen and Eleonore Gierlichs: Das Mainzer Volksbuch . Mainz 1994, page 33
- ^ Wilhelm Huber: The Mainz Lexicon . Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-87439-600-2 .
- ^ House of Maria Frieden
- ^ Brother Konrad Pen, Mainz
- ↑ Ludwig Seelig: Once a rascal, always a rascal . Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8311-1888-4 .
- ^ Carl Zuckmayer: The carnival confession . Fackelverlag Olten, Stuttgart, Salzburg, 1959.
Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 50 ″ N , 8 ° 16 ′ 34 ″ E